Transcript for New Terror Warning for American Athletes and Fans Heading to Olympics

story. A new terror warning for American athletes and fans descending on sochi, Russia. 48 hours before the olympic games, the U.S. Government announced new intelligence information that terrorists may be targeting planes with explosive explosives smuggled onboard inside tubes of toothpaste. ABC's senior justice correspondent Pierre Thomas has the details pouring in right now. Reporter: Has the olympic torch made its way into sochi today, a new warning from U.S. Intelligence put commercial airlines on notice. Terrorists may try to use toothpaste containers to smuggle explosives onboard planes. I believe that's specific and credible information. Reporter: Sources tell ABC news, the new potential threat is not necessarily directed at Americans. But does pertain to all international flights into Russia during the games, including a small number from the U.S. Since 9/11, terrorists have repeatedly come up with creative attempts to blow up commercial and cargo planes. There was the shoe bomber. The liquid explosives plot, the underwear bomber and the plan to smuggle a bomb in a printer cartridge. While it's not clear what kind of explosives could be used in a toothpaste plot, it's clear that even small bombs can be extraordinarily dangerous. A military bomb technician tells us tonight, that certain explosives in jell or paste form can be easily molded into a powerful bomb, fitting into a toothpaste tube. Here's what the liquid explosive bomb would have done. The Russians have been on-edge, due to a series of threats from islamic militants, mainly from dagestan. And officials hinted that specific olympic hits were being discovered. There's a number of specific threats of varying degrees of credibility that we're tracking. Reporter: Hundreds of thousands are traveling to Russia for the games, including 15,000 Americans. I imagine all of them will toothpaste, Diane. And, Pierre, give us what kind of level of certainty they have about the attack. Reporter: The information they have, has recently come in. It only applies to toothpaste tubes as far as we know. They're taking it seriously. But they don't have more specifics than that at this point. Taking it seriously. I know you will be following up throughout the night. Thank you, Pierre.

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